Deprecated: mysql_connect(): The mysql extension is deprecated and will be removed in the future: use mysqli or PDO instead in C:\inetpub\diplomaticcorp\includes\functions.inc on line 10Diplomaticcorp - Forum Post

I don't take notes as I play, so this'll have to be from memory all the way through...

First of all, this was my second experience playing as a replacement player. It was certainly different than the last time. I came into the game determined to find out what the status quo was and wanted to maintain it. However, I quickly found that to be impossible. I came into the game as allies with Austria, Ottomans and China, from my understanding. Unfortunately, those were all my neighbours. I had one border with enemies (Scandinavia) with no hope of winning any territory there. So, I broke ranks. I don't remember why I chose the Ottomans to attack... it was probably because they were the only one I could get to quickly. I
enlisted the help of the British for that attack. I had ideas that I might join the US/UK/Spain group as I could make many gains from the inside while they had to contend with the current wall of forces from Austria and China. But, just as the Ottomans were about to be eliminated, Britain decided to take a shot at me, I think in Baghdad.

So, I didn't even get a chance to team up with them. From that point on, I was going to be loyal to China and Austria. I figured the worst I could manage was a survival, since I was in the middle and would concede to a draw long before being eliminated. Things looked bleak, but that didn't matter to me, because I didn't consider this my game and wasn't worried about how I'd end up. I was on the verge of suggesting a three-way draw for US/UK/Spain, since that's where it seemed headed.
But...

The change in Spain characters changed everything. Well... not really for us, but for UK/US. China and I had already agreed that we were going to commit ourselves to stopping Britain and that we'd let Spain chip away as he wished. We thought we might be able to tempt Spain to go for a solo, thus gaining UK/US as allies of necessity. So, when Spain stopped attacking, it just made our job easier... especially since he was assuring us that he had no interest in a solo.

Austria and I actually started making plans for taking over the rest of Europe. Earlier, we'd just settled what we were going to do around Scandinavia and there wasn't much else to talk about. I wasn't going to attack him and he had a good defense going.

From that point on, it was a matter of following
through. I tried my darndest to convince Austria and China that we could hold out for a 3-way draw. I was just excited that I might have the ability to get out and fight on some front lines. I had, after all, finally reached the Indian Ocean. But it would seem that China mistook my movement of units southward (trying to get them to Africa as quickly as possible) for a defensive/offensive directed at him. I was going to continue fighting in Africa as I'd committed, despite the (I felt) unprovoked attack from China. I wasn't even aware of a demilitarized zone that must have been set up by my predecessor. Anyway... I'm more than thrilled that I managed to sneak away from this game with a draw, as I'd assumed a survival was the best I'd get when I joined in.